Security Tightened For Dodgers Home Opener A Year After Stow Beating
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The LAPD were ramping up security at Dodger Stadium for the team's Tuesday home opener a year after a Giants fan was brutally beaten.
Eight units had been assigned to patrol the area overnight to ensure that no tailgating took place prior to 6 a.m.
Dodger fan Kenny Mata said that he planned to get to the park hours before the first pitch.
"Hopefully I'm going to get out here and maybe barbeque or something like that. I know that there is going to be a lot of LAPD around," Mata said.
Security was expected to be high both inside and outside Dodger Stadium to avoid a repeat of last year's incident involving the brutal beating of Giant's fan Bryan Stow.
Police were taking a zero-tolerance approach to tailgating parties that include alcohol.
"We're not going to tolerate any drinking in the park parking lot," said LAPD Deputy Chief Jose Perez, Jr.
Sean Ortiz said he knows all too well how packed Elysian Park gets, so he planned on showing up with his shaved-ice truck before 5 a.m. to cash in on the big day.
"Planning on probably getting here really early in the morning, because last year was pretty crazy," Ortiz said.
But crazy was what the LAPD wanted to avoid. The department would not tell us how many officers it was staffing, but 60 were expected to be on bicycles. Undercover officers were also expected to be at the game – some dressed in Pittsburgh Pirates jerseys – the opposing team.
"We'll see if anybody is going to attack those officers," Perez said.
Mata said he stopped going to games after the attack on Stow last year. But Dodger fan Pateel Boyajian said that she went to dozens of games and noticed a significant shift after the tragedy.
"Security is so tight there, you almost feel like there is a police officer everywhere you turn," Boyajian said.
The Dodgers declined a request to talk on camera, but they emailed us a statement saying that security was a paramount priority for the organization.
